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Thursday, April 8, 2010

Mt. Pleasant, TX

Toto, I don’t think we’re on the plains anymore.

Help! We’re in Muenster and the wind won’t let us out! Herman was no where to be found but they had really good sausage.

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The day's going to be a long one. We're setting out to do 65 miles. No problem. The hills are more shallow and we have a tailwind--first one in a week. We're putting the miles behind us, rolling and pedaling hard. Sometimes we work just as hard as when we're bucking a wind or climbing mountains, but it feels wonderful to spin for speed. Twenty miles out from Paris, the symbol for the end of the day, we change counties. Now changing counties means a change in road and/or shoulder quality. Sometimes it all gets better, sometimes we lose a shoulder, sometimes the road gets better but the shoulder gets worse. "What happened today?" you ask. We are now riding on the worse pavement ever! Gravel roads are far better quality. The road is the same as the shoulder. Our speed slows, we grind away. I hear the front panniers become Maracas as they play a jittering tune. Now, it’s not just us, the cars are using more gasoline too. Shouldn’t the taxpayers be angry? Oh well, this is an oil state and it makes the oil tycoons richer, right? As I’m plodding away, I realize that this road is the symbol for life and all those fancy quotes I used to show my students to get them to engage thought:

“Sometimes it's good to contrast what you like with something else. It makes you appreciate it even more.” Darby Conley,Get Fuzzy, 2001

“Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have.”Author Unknown

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back andrealize they were the big things."Author Unknown

. . . Like smooth pavement!

We're currently in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. We went south because we had a north wind. Tomorrow we are going northeast because we will have a south wind. We've cycled over 900 miles so far.